Dauphin County sports complex brings mixed views

Growing up in Dillsburg, Olivia Taylor remembers the hour and two-hour car rides it took to get to club soccer games.

Now a coach, Taylor said the area would benefit from an additional multisports complex to host practices, games and tournaments for youth sports.

“I think it would be awesome,” said Taylor, an assistant coach for the Mechanicsburg Maroon in the Central Pennsylvania Youth Soccer League. “With the rain we’ve had this season — if we had another indoor facility, we could go year round.”

Dauphin County commissioners agreed this month to spend $70,000 in money received from casino proceeds on a feasibility study to see if the area can support such an athletic complex. The complex would be owned and financed by the Mid State Alliance, a Harrisburg area nonprofit.

A two-phase study, done by the Washington, D.C.-based firm Brailsford & Dunlavey, will determine the size, scope and location of the facility, which organizers say will offer professional-level playing surfaces for many sports along with green, open spaces for walking and picnicking.

The study is expected to take about four months.

Not only would the facility give area youth a new place to play and compete, but it also could give the county an economic boost and foster tourism, Commissioner Mike Pries said.

But not everyone is sold.

Nate Benefield, director of policy analysis for the conservative Commonwealth Foundation, said he wonders if spending money on a feasibility study for a sports complex should be a priority for the county.

“In terms of what concerns residents and the major needs for the area, I don’t think more sports recreation facilities seem to be high on the list with the fiscal crush and the recession we’re facing,” Benefield said. “I’m not sure if that should be high on the list of what we should be spending money on.”

The spending also is questionable because there’s no guarantee the project will come to fruition, Benefield said.

The Alliance came up with the idea after concluding many of the athletic fields in Dauphin County and the region unfairly compare to facilities throughout Pennsylvania and the East Coast. Its long-term goal is to build a year round facility that would be managed by full-time staff.

“We’ve wanted the community to create the vision for a facility like this for years,” Commissioner Jeff Haste said. “If the study shows a premier facility is feasible, the addition of that kind of complex will provide a place that everyone can use and enjoy.”

The county hopes the facility would attract regional athletics tournaments that would increase tourism and economic development, Haste said. Soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball and field hockey are among the sports that have been discussed for the complex.

Norm Dallago, executive director of Wrestle for a Cure, which uses freestyle wrestling tournaments to raise money for charities, said he would like to see wrestling included at the facility. The Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center will host the organization’s Wrestle for a Cure Duals for Cystic Fibrosis in November.

Sue Errichetti, general manager of In The Net, a multisports complex in Palmyra, said she doesn’t see the need for a similar facility in the area.

Competition has limited growth for the business, which hosts sports training and competition for soccer, lacrosse, football, baseball, softball, field hockey and ultimate Frisbee. It has indoor and outdoor fields.

The economy has taken a toll on youth sports, Errichetti said. Parents are having trouble affording travel, and league and tournament fees, especially when they have multiple children involved in club sports.

“I don’t see how that would be supported in Dauphin County when it’s right next to us,” she said. “It’s a challenge. You have to work at advertising and reaching out to teens.”

Andrew Johnson, an assistant coach with the Vipers of the Capital Area Soccer Association, also said he’s not sure if there’s a need for such a facility in the area, but he embraces the idea.

“It supports the cause of sports,” Johnson said. “We’re very positive with the programs that we have, but you need a ball to play and a place to play.”

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